You Look Flushed
by Erik's Rose
Summary: Penny and Sheldon are watching Star Trek while Penny waits for Leonard to come home. Why does Sheldon feel too warm? Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

Sheldon looked over at Penny, wondering why her arching her neck back while running her fingers through her hair made him feel too warm. He was sitting in his spot, so the temperature should have been just right, but he was definitely too hot. He shifted uncomfortably. Penny turned to look at him.

"You okay, sweetie?"

"I think there has been an impromptu increase in the pinnacle of the warmth emanating from the heating system installed in this dwelling." Penny blinked.

"You too hot, honey?"

"A little, yes. Thank you for using your somewhat limited intelligent to pose the question drowning in its own simplicity to enquire after my well-being." Penny rolled her eyes.

"No problem." She turned her attention back to the television, wishing Howard was back from the market. Why she'd agreed to wait with Sheldon watching re-runs of Star Trek she didn't know. She had nothing against Star Trek, but Sheldon's running commentary explaining the physics mistakes and how to rectify them was starting to fray her nerves. All she'd come over for was to give Howard Babylon 5 back (he'd lent it to her because her dad wanted to see it) and here she was, stuck on the couch with Sheldon, suddenly complaining about the heat. She frowned and looked at him again. He was in his famous spot but he did look a little flushed and she felt fine.

"Sheldon, sweetie I think you're coming down with something."

"Don't be ridiculous. I take extra special care to avoid all social interaction beyond speech therefore eliminating the risk of contracting a contagious ailment which would give me the symptoms of, as you put it, 'coming down with something'."

"But you look flushed and said yourself you were too hot. Maybe you should go to bed."

"But retiring to my room to sleep at such a moment in the day would interfere with my carefully mapped out routine, which leads me to slumber for the appropriate amount of time each night so that I may be fully alert at the time I choose to rise from my bed and greet the new day."

"But if you're sick you should really go to bed."

"I am not sick, Penny. I am merely experiencing unprecedented effects of what I assume is a fault in the heating appliance, which is causing my temperature to rise, thus giving the appearance that I have a fever. All these lead to your assumption that I am sick, whereas I am sure it is only the result of unforeseen events, which were therefore unplanned for, which has resulted in my cheeks becoming tinged with pink, which my usual completion fails to do." He smiled and looked at Penny who was frowning.

"Okay, I have no idea what you just said"

"I'm not sick." Sheldon said simply, returning his attention to the television. Penny scooted closer to Sheldon and raised her hand to feel his forehead. Before she could Sheldon recoiled and pressed himself against the arm of the couch.

"Penny, what are you doing?"

"I just want to check your temperature." Sheldon jumped of the couch and ran to the television.

"No! I've told you I'm not sick! Though you touching my forehead with you hand may give me something. You don't use sanitizer gel and you're a waitress, who knows what you may give me if you touch me."

"Sweetie, you look really red I think you should check you're not sick."

"Checking I'm not sick, does not involve the need for you to touch my forehead."

"Then check yourself Sheldon."

"I am not sick Penny!"

"But the temperature in here is fine, I'm not too hot and I'm not even in your spot. Why else would you look so flushed? I really think you should check honey."

"First of all Penny, there are many reasons for Homo sapiens complexion changing. Sickness is indeed one but flushing also indicates excitement, warmth above what is normal in the vicinity, sadness, happiness, various emotional disturbances, a hormonal imbalance and, though totally irrelevant to my condition but relevant in a scientific rundown of possibilities, the feeling inspired by the urge to engage in coitus."

"Well, and I'm really worried I understood you, but it can't be temperature because I'm fine. Like you said it can't be the urge to…whatever. I don't think you're capable of emotional disturbances and a hormonal imbalance at your age would suggest you need to see a doctor anyway so, unless you're inexplicably excited by something, I would say you're sick."

"Drat." Sheldon left to go to his room. Penny grinned.

"Oh Sheldon," she said to herself. "You are so sweet."

**A/N Thinking of extending this. Any thoughts? "Dodges bullets from 'An Affair To Remember' subscribers and bubbleairhead's ghost"**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I realise in the last chapter I accidently referred to Leonard as Howard, apologies it was late. **

Sheldon lay in bed and frowned. He suddenly felt a lot better. If he was sick, as Penny seemed to have proved, he shouldn't suddenly be feeling better. Due to his knowledge of the immune system and especially his own, he should not be feeling well again for at least twenty four hours. Not only did he suddenly feel fine, his earlier symptom of a rise in temperature had completely disappeared. It was an intriguing conundrum. He decided to re-join Penny in the living room to see if his earlier conclusion had been correct and it was indeed a fault in the heating appliance that had caused his body temperature to rise above what is normal.

Penny was bored, she wasn't sure where the remote was and was therefore forced to watch Star Trek. Again it wasn't that she disliked it, but she was getting tired of it. Most of the episodes on she had seen anyway. She sighed and spread out on the couch, her head in Sheldon's spot. She smiled; he had the most adorable quirks. He was an arrogant, anti-social pig, but he had adorable quirks. Suddenly Sheldon entered.

"Penny! Why is your head in my spot?" The warm feeling came back to Sheldon.

"Honey what are you doing out of bed? You need to sleep your fever off!"

"I do not have a fever Penny. While engaging in your well-meaning and presumed at the time correct advice to retire to my chambers as I was exhibiting features of an individual under the influence of their white blood cells being overcome by a bacteria previously not encountered by my body, I realised the symptoms observed had disappeared. Therefore, it seems that my earlier explanation of the change in my body temperature being due to an impromptu increase in the temperature of this room was correct. This was proved by the fact that mere seconds after entering this room, the same feeling of being too warm returned. In the case of you arguing that such a conclusion is impossible due to the fact you experience no such thing, means that your body reacts differently in such a situation to mine, therefore your previous argument is invalid and therefore your suggestion of my being incapacitated was incorrect."

"So you're not sick?"

"Correct."

"Good. I still don't see how it can be the temperature. I'm from Nebraska, I'm very sensitive to heat, I can always tell if temperature increases and I still feel fine."

"Like I said Penny, you obviously react differently to me. I know the correct temperature, therefore I am very aware if it increases or decreases. That is why my spot is so important to me." He looked pointedly at Penny who rolled her eyes and sat up to vacate Sheldon's spot. He promptly sat next to Penny again.

"Sheldon, honey do you mind if we watch something else?"

"You are not enjoying Captain Picard's on-going voyage to boldly go where no man has gone before to seek out new life and new civilizations whilst defying the laws of physics as we know them at this present time?"

"I have seen these episodes before Sheldon. I know what's going to happen and it takes the fun out of them." Sheldon frowned in thought for a moment.

"But you, like so many of us, enjoy watching things over and over again. I recall seeing a box set of something called One Tree Hill in your apartment which I believe is a television show."

"That's different Sheldon. That's good quality TV drama, this is science fiction. You know that's not really my thing."

"Well this is not your apartment Penny yet you are occupying it. It is my apartment and as you do not benefit from the roommate agreement due to your residence being across the hall and you not being involved with either myself or Leonard, you do not have the right to request a channel change without a reason I deem sufficient."

"You could just say no Sheldon. I'm only here because I'm waiting for Leonard to get back so I can return his stupid box set of Babylon 5."

"I agree with you there Penny. Babylon 5 is stupid. It sullies the good name of science fiction and it is so non-realistic it mystifies me how it made it to two seasons let alone five and the two movies are just baffling."

"Do you have an opinion on everything Sheldon?" Sheldon thought for a moment.

"Yes."

"Great." Groaned Penny.

"Sarcasm?"

"Yeah."

"Oh good. I'm improving my ability to spot it. I must admit it's a difficult concept for me to understand. The definition of sarcasm is a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain. I must confess I'm unclear how a word or phrase can cause such an occurrence. It is indeed an unusual phenomena. "

Penny rolled her eyes and growled in frustration.

"For God's sake Sheldon, do you have to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Explain everything like a goddamn science experiment? It doesn't matter what the definition of sarcasm is. It doesn't matter whether or not you get it. It doesn't matter whether or not we agree on which sci-fi programs are good and which aren't. Can you not spend five seconds acting like a person for once?"

"I really cannot understand your vehemence Penny. I am merely explaining my predicament to you."

"I don't care, Sheldon." Penny moaned. "You don't have to explain everything sweetie. You just have to go with the flow sometimes."

"The flow of what?"

"Of life."

"Life does not flow Penny. To describe life…"

"Ugh! This is what I mean! Every conversation does not have to result in a lecture! You know what, forget it. Let's just not talk for a while."

"Alright Penny, if you wish."

"I wish."

"All right." There was silence for s few moments.

"Sheldon your cheeks have gone red."

"I told you. I'm too hot."

"I really think you should see a doctor."

"I've told you Penny. I'm only too hot in this room. I am not sick."

"Fine. Whatever. I still think you should get yourself checked out."

"What you think is irrelevant Penny. I know my body and I believe it's an impromptu increase of the temperature in this room, which has resulted in the alteration of my appearance."

Penny rolled her eyes again. Then the door opened and Leonard, Howard and Raj entered. Penny got up.

"Hey Leonard. Here's Babylon 5 back." Leonard took the case with a smile.

"Thanks. Did you enjoy it?"

"No. Bye Sheldon."

"Goodbye Penny." Penny left closing the door behind her, Sheldon felt himself begin to cool. "What is wrong with the heating in this room?" Sheldon abruptly rose and went to his bedroom.

"What was that about?" Asked Howard. Leonard turned to him.

"Howard, it's Sheldon. I'm surprised you even thought that question."

**A/N I know not a lot has happened yet but there is more going on in the next chapter. Please review, it feeds my muse **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Okay, just to clarify this isn't set during any particular series, it's slightly AU. Leonard and Penny have dated and split up and Sheldon is friends with Amy Farrah Fowler. I haven't made up my mind about Bernadette and Howard yet, but they're probably together just not married yet.**

Sheldon hated getting down on his hands and knees. He also hated any kind of manual work that he could pay someone else to do for him. However, he needed to fix the heating appliance in the living room before it drove him crazy.

He'd double-checked the thermostat, kept a thermometer on his desk and kept a record of when the heating changed unexpectedly in the living room. So far he'd had no definitive results.

Therefore he was on his hands and knees, by the radiator, wondering where he should put the screwdriver to fix the stupid thing. Leonard walked in and did a double-take.

"Sheldon, what are you doing?"

"Fixing the radiator."

"Oh…is it broken?"

"Why else would I fix it?"

"I dunno. I just didn't realise there was anything wrong with it."

"While there is no obvious cause Leonard, I can assure you it definitely has a fault."

"How can you tell if there's no obvious cause?"

"I have, at infrequent intervals, felt an increase in the temperature in this room."

"Really?" Leonard frowned. "I haven't noticed it."

"Well of course you haven't noticed it Leonard. Your body is so small you'd probably be warm in Alaska. Bazinga!" He smirked before continuing to examine the radiator. Leonard just shook his head and took a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Sheldon, if you're so concerned why don't you call someone to come and fix it?"

"Oh I'm sure you must recall Leonard, last time they promised to be here between twelve and three. After rescheduling my entire day to fit them in and sitting waiting for them they didn't turn up until three thirty, making them half an hour late. As I don't trust strangers in my apartment, especially as they'd already lied and broken a promise, I had to stay until they were done, which threw my schedule completely off, as they didn't finish until five. I refuse to be put through that trauma again, unless absolutely necessary."

"I'm surprised you got over such an encounter."

"It wasn't easy. It was a truly harrowing experience." Leonard shook his head, just when he'd started to think Sheldon had managed to grasp sarcasm.

"Well, I'm going to go out and leave you to it."

"Oh, I don't mind you staying Leonard."

"No but I do." Leonard picked up his jacket and left, before realising he didn't really have anywhere he needed to be. He decided he might as well go to the comic book store. He was halfway down the stairs before he remembered he'd only ben there the night before.

"God, I really am a geek!"

*Knock, knock, knock* "Penny!" *Knock, knock, knock* "Penny!" *Knock, knock, knock* "Penny!"

"What up, Moonpie?"

"I need your help with something."

Yeah?" Penny sighed.

"Will you come to my apartment for a second?"

"Yeah sure." Penny rolled her eyes. "I literally have nothing better to do." She followed Sheldon into the apartment. Sheldon stopped when he got to the radiator and turned to Penny, who looked at him expectantly with her eyebrows raised.

"The radiator's broken" He said simply.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Why are you telling me?"

"Can you fix it?"

"No!" She stared at him in disbelief. "I'm not a plumber Sheldon, why don't you ask the building manager to call someone."

"No, that wouldn't work." He said shaking his head. Penny spread her hands.

"Why?"

"I don't trust plumbers, they lie and take forever, and I can't wait forever." I noticed as we walked in the temperature had gone up again." Penny shook her head.

"Have you tried bleeding it?"

"I don't understand." Penny sighed in exasperation and turned the knob to bleed the radiator. Her top fell slightly open, giving Sheldon a clear view of her cleavage. She stood back up.

"Better?"

"Actually I think it's gone even higher." Sheldon said in concern as he cheeks went red.

"You know what Sheldon; I don't have time for this. You've obviously gone insane. The temperature in here is perfectly fine and hasn't changed since I came over. "

"You said you had nothing else to do?"

"Yeah well now I do." Penny spun around and walked out, passing Leonard in the doorway. "Hey Leonard."

"Hey Penny." Penny went into her apartment and slammed the door. "Hey Sheldon what's up, you look flushed?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N WOW! Thank you so much for all the reviews and story alerts. Really fed my muse it went crazy! It was a bit all over the place but here's a chapter, things are starting to come out! Hope you enjoy, think things may start to hot up in the next chapter. Please continue to review, as you can see it gets things done! **

**Kindest Regards**

**ER**

"Do you think you can help me, Amy?" Amy regarded Sheldon.

"I don't understand what the problem is Sheldon. All you've told me is that you've felt fluctuations in the temperature of your apartment and there's nothing wrong with the radiator."

"Well that's the problem. I've been to two doctors and I'm not sick, no-one else has noticed it and I'm starting to worry that I'm being taken over by some extra-terrestrial parasite."

"Sheldon, while not beyond the realms of possibility, I think it highly unlikely that an alien parasite is causing this distress. I believe I have a few theories as to your predicament, but I need more information."

"Such as?"

"Is there a pattern at all, to these increases in temperature?"

"None which I have been able to determine. They happen sporadically and at different times of the day, different days of the week, though recently it's happened almost every day."

"Do you have a record of events I can peruse at my leisure?" Sheldon handed Amy a small notebook.

"I have recorded times, dates, the people present and what they were doing. I thought it best to cover all angles."

"Refreshingly thorough Sheldon, as always."

"Thank you, Amy. Now if you'll excuse me I really have to get back. Will you Skype, text or email me when you have a definitive theory?"

"Of course." Sheldon left. Amy scanned the notes and raised an eyebrow. Checking Sheldon had gone; she pulled out her cell phone and dialled.

"Bernadette? Are you free to meet, we have a crisis."

SPSPSPSPSP

"So, what's this crisis?"

"It's to do with Sheldon."

"Oh my god, has he finally cracked?"

"No, you're being Melodramatic Bernadette. Though I do believe that Sheldon's Homo Novus complex is about to come crashing down around him, metaphorically speaking."

"Homo Novus complex?"

"Yes. You see, Sheldon believes that he is not a Homo Saipan, but a higher strand of the species, Homo Novus, the nest stage of the evolution of mankind. However, I believe that current circumstances are leading to that theory being disproven."

"You mean his social inadequacies haven't already?"

"No. you see, Sheldon's lack of social graces and problems with accessing emotion is linked to his theory of being further evolved than the rest of us. Homo Novus is without sexual desire, emotional disturbances and the needs and urges that the rest of mankind are subject to. It's basically how he scientifically explains the fact that he is, as Penny puts it, 'one serious whackadoodle'."

"And that's about to change?"

"Actually Bernadette, it's already started." Bernadette's eyes went wide.

"Sheldon's becoming normal?" Se breathed in disbelief.

"Not exactly, but he is apparently starting to experience typical male urges." Bernadette frowned.

"Are you saying he tried to come on to you?"

"No, not at all. It is not me he's interested in. Though he is, it seems, feeling the urge to engage in coitus."

"Are you sure?"

"No two ways about it girlfriend, Sheldon's horny."

SPSPSPSP

Sheldon walked in to find Penny and Leonard sitting on the couch sharing a salad. Leonard glanced at him.

"Hey Sheldon." Penny looked up and gave Sheldon a wide smile.

"Hey Moonpie." Sheldon felt the familiar sensation of s temperature increase and pulled out his back-up notebook to document it.

"Watcha doing sweetie?" Asked Penny.

"Well, I need to keep a record of events in this back-up notebook, as Amy Farrah-Fowler is still in possession of the one I usually use. It makes me regret not actually making copies of my notes on findings to give to her so I could keep the original hard copies. Right now I can't check whether or not a pattern is emerging, although I doubt it considering all pre-collected evidence that I do recall." He closed the notebook and went over to his laptop. Penny turned to Leonard.

"Do you have any idea what that was all about?"

"I've learnt to tune it out."


End file.
